Usage notes

Selecting multiple options

On a desktop computer, there are a number of ways to select multiple options in a <select> element with a multiple attribute:

Mouse users can hold the Ctrl, Command, or Shift keys (depending on what makes sense for your operating system) and then click multiple options to select/deselect them.

Warning: The mechanism for selecting multiple non-contiguous items via the keyboard described below currently only seems to work in Firefox.

On macOS, the Ctrl + Up and Ctrl + Down shortcuts conflict with the OS default shortcuts for Mission Control and Application windows, so you'll have to turn these off before it will work.

Keyboard users can select multiple contiguous items by:

  • Focusing on the <select> element (e.g. using Tab ).
  • Selecting an item at the top or bottom of the range they want to select using the Up and Down cursor keys to go up and down the options.
  • Holding down the Shift key and then using the Up and Down cursor keys to increase or decrease the range of items selected.

Keyboard users can select multiple non-contiguous items by:

  • Focusing on the <select> element (e.g. using Tab ).
  • Holding down the Ctrl key then using the Up and Down cursor keys to change the "focused" select option, i.e. the one that will be selected if you choose to do so. The "focused" select option is highlighted with a dotted outline, in the same way as a keyboard-focused link.
  • Pressing Space to select/deselect "focused" select options.